


Passing Time

by FlorentineQuill



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: Diaval gets a backstory, F/M, Gen, and maybe some angst, by which i mean children, lots and lots of children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 14:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2195925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlorentineQuill/pseuds/FlorentineQuill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sixteen years is a long time to know someone. Maleficent asks Diaval about his life before he came to Moors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passing Time

“I never thought to ask,” Maleficent said, apropos of nothing. Diaval looked at her, startled. They were patrolling the stretch of thorns nearest the little cottage where the pixies were attempting to raise their human charge. He was in his human form for the moment, and night had fallen over the Moors. His night vision was little better than his raven-shape’s, but Maleficent lit their path with a soft swathe of golden light. 

“Mistress?” he asked, cautiously. 

Maleficent turned to him, and studied him with a frown. “I never thought to ask,” she repeated. “Did I take you away from anything? Friends, family…” She waved her hand. Her tone was casual, but he could hear the fragile cracks in it.

He didn’t immediately respond, picking his way through the forest’s undergrowth with care. “My children are all grown,” he said eventually. He wasn’t ready to share the hurt of Dunya, not yet. It took more than one attack by a farmer and his mutts to make him despise an entire species. “I was on my own when you saved me.” He hadn't been doing much of anything, when he had run afoul of that farmer and his net. Just...wandering. Looking for trouble.

“I see,” she replied thoughtfully. They walked in silence for several minutes before she spoke again. “Do you have many?” she asked. “Children, that is.”

Diaval looked down at the ground, but this time it was to hide his smile at her awkward, stilted efforts. “I have twelve children,” he replied. “Would you like to hear their names?” He gave her a sardonic smile. Testing, pushing back just a little.

“Please.” 

He paused, startled by the softness of her voice, before taking a deep breath.. He muttered to himself as he counted several times on his fingers, sorting through the four clutches he and Dunya had been blessed with. “Let’s see…Alisa and Sasha. Sofiya, Valentina, Vladmir, and Makar- They were the largest brood. Seraphina, Daniil, and Lev were next.” He hesitated but continued. “I raised Yelena, Natasha, and Dimitri on my own for the most part." 

Maleficent drew to a halt, and turned towards him. She wasn’t a raven, but she paid attention to the little things. And everyone knew that raven eggs didn’t appear in morning dew. She studied his face for a moment, her eyes silvery-green and searching in the moonlight. _Please don’t ask,_ he prayed.  _Not yet_. He cast about for something, anything, to distract her. "Dimitri and his brothers were always getting into trouble with their sisters,” he offered lamely. 

She blinked, the slow and relaxed blink of a predator, and he held his breath. Then something shifted in her demeanor, softening. He didn't move, watching her watching him. After a moment, the corner of her mouth curled up in a tiny smile. “Always in trouble, hmm?” she said, and he breathed again. “Like father, like son?”

Diaval had to cackle at that, half relief and half amusement, tilting his head back. He ignored the incredulous stare of a nearby, roosting owl. “Oh, they were all of them, a handful,” he said, smile broadening. “I used to tell them it was a small miracle that they managed to fledge at all, roughhousing in the nest like they did. Once they got their wings, it was far worse.”

“Hmm.” Maleficent seemed content with that, and started walking again. He watched her for moment, head tilted to one side before following, and they continued their patrol in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted Diaval to have kids and this sort of...happened. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on Wikipedia and asking zoologically-inclined friends about the mating habits of ravens. Specifically if they would take a second mate if the first one died >.>'


End file.
